Breakfast by the Office
by SioPao-chan
Summary: Mai was invited to eat breakfast by one of her friends when an unsuspected guest arrived. What does this person have to do with Mai?


Disclaimer: Ghost Hunt is the intellectual property of Fuyumi Ono-san and copyrighted to Kodansha and J.C. Staff. Artemis Fowl is the intellectual property of Eoin Colfer. No copyright infringement intended. This is purely for entertainment purposes only. Story and plot line of this fanfiction are the only things that belong to me.

Author's note: Italic conversation that are not spelled correctly are mail messages received in a mobile phone. It was intended to be misspelled.

* * *

The sun was setting, painting the sky orange. It was spring time, and school had just let out. Not wanting to stay inside her stuffy one room apartment just after a stressful day, Taniyama Mai, aged 17, decided to go to the park instead to savor the spring time air and one of her well-deserved two days off from her part-time job. It was really hard supporting herself with the SPR gone, but as luck would have it, a position cleared in the hospital that Ayako's family owns. She now works as an assistant in one of the departments there.

Mai was reading a book entitled "Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox" in one of the park's benches when her mobile phone vibrated. Startled by the sudden sound, she dropped the book she was reading and frantically searched her bag for her phone. "Mou, where is it?" Finally finding her phone after fishing it out of her messy bag, she opened it to find that Bou-san had sent her a mail. Her face scrunched up in confusion as she read it.

"_Mit me tom 8am at d cafe below d SPR offce_." She quickly typed in her response to the mail that she received.

"_Y? Is der something happning der tom_?" Another mail came when she picked up her dropped book. She dusted it off before turning her attention back at the phone.

"_No rison. Can't I take my imouto-chan to bfast? Nd dnt u dare say dat u have work. Ayako told me dat u have d day off for tom so no xcuses._ " A small smile spilled unto Mai's face. It had been awhile since she last saw any of her SPR friends. Everybody was just too busy with their own lives that it was virtually rare for them to have time to see each other.

"_Ok. R d others coming too_?" She just stared at the screen of her phone after sending her last reply, waiting for Bou-san's to come. After a short while, a beep sounded, informing her that the mail that she was waiting for had arrived. "_Nope, dnt thnk so. Ayako has something plnnd for tom. I cudn't cntact d others, so I guess it'll b jst u nd me tom_ "

"_K. C u tom _ " She replied. It was starting to get dark so she scooped up her things inside her bag and stood up. Feeling happy and excited, Mai went home with a spring in her step and a wide grin on her face.

* * *

Morning rays of the sun was seeping through the blinds of Mai's apartment, hitting her square on the face. Still not wanting to get up, Mai turned the other way to avoid the irritating sunshine when something clicked in her sleep-addled mind. Shoving her covers aside, she reached for her mobile phone to look at the time. It read 7:30am. She was supposed to meet Bou-san by 8:00am.

"Mou! I'm going to be late!" Dressing in record speed time, Mai rushed outside praying that she could get to there on time.

Mai stopped a few stores away from the cafe to catch her breath. She had been running non-stop from the train station to avoid being late. After she was sure that she could already breathe normally, she walked towards the cafe. As she entered the cafe, she saw a figure that made her stop dead in her tracks. Her eyes went wide and her face turned white then to red.

"Uso..."

There, sitting under one of the cafe's umbrella shades was the last person that she expected to see.

He was sitting there in the cafe, as instructed. He was told to go to the cafe below the previous SPR office to meet a client. He knew that it was a ruse but went along with it. He couldn't possibly pass up this opportunity when he had been waiting for this ever since they have arrived.

He knew that he could just think of an excuse prior to this event to see her, but his steel will somehow leaves him when thoughts of her churn in his mind. As omnipotent as people think of him to be, he is still a human being, still as vulnerable as all others are. The only difference was that he knows how to hide his vulnerability well. He scoffed at this thought. "_Too bloody well."_

He looked towards the end the street, trying to spot the person he was supposed to meet. Seeing no one, he turned to look at his watch and sighed. It read 8:10am. "_Some things never change."_

He supposed that a good explanation would be needed as to why he is there, but none came to mind. In all honesty, he just wanted to see her. He didn't know when it happened, but he found himself thinking of her more and more each time he lets his mind to wander. That was why he was very eager when he was assigned to a group that would go to Japan to investigate. He didn't need time for consideration, he said yes out right when the proposition was given to him. And so that was the reason why he was back in Japan, but he didn't have a reason as to why he was in that cafe, ready to have a roller coaster breakfast with someone whom he thought of nothing before but now has become the world to him.

He took a sip of his cup to calm his nerves. That was when he heard the soft whisper of his name that could only sound so great when said by her.

* * *

"Naru," Mai said softly, barely above whisper, but somehow the young man still heard. He looked up at her. Brown met Blue, then the world seemingly stopped to move. She couldn't believe her eyes. In front of her was the guy that made her feeling all spectrums of emotions. The guy that was in her dreams after he had left. She pinched her arm to make sure that she wasn't dreaming or hallucinating this. As pain shot through her arm, she knew that it was real.

The raven haired guy regarded her, studying her intently. A passing thought came into his mind. "_Time has done a number of changes."_

Indeed, time had done some changes. Mai grew her short hair long; it was now up to the middle of her back. She grew a few inches taller, making her legs look longer in the mini-skirt that she was wearing. She had filled out more nicely, instead of just short of becoming stick and bones, she had more mass. He diverted his gaze away as he found himself looking in the direction of her chest, but still noticed that they too had filled out. Not so much, but definitely there to notice. "_Bloody hormones!"_

Mai shuffled, being uncomfortable by the open stare that the young man was giving her. Her gaze shifted to his side, as to not make it look that she wasn't looking at him. However, she too had also noticed the changes in her former boss/long time crush. She noticed the small bump in his upper arms when he moved them to replace the cup he was holding on the table. He had grown several inches taller and his body had more bulk than previously. Not muscularly so, just enough for him to be lean. She also noticed that he wasn't wearing an all black ensemble."_Oh yeah, he was in mourning when we worked for him. That's the reason why he was always wearing black. Navy blue suits him..." _ She felt her face burn more at her last thought. Mai shifted her gaze back at his face to find out that he was still looking at her.

A smirk found its way on his face. He was secretly pleased that he could still fluster her, maybe even more so than before. Then he said one of the lines always spoken between the two of them. "You're late."

This snapped her from her reverie and was jolted back to reality. "What do you mean I'm late? You're not the one I'm meeting. I'm supposed to meet Bou-san here." She scanned the inside area of the cafe to try and spot the missing monk, but he was nowhere to be found.

"Don't bother wasting your time looking for Takigawa-san. I assure you, he is not here." Mai narrowed her eyes at him. "How can you be so sure?" At this time, her phone vibrated and she fished it out of her bag to read the incoming mail from Bou-san.

"_Gomen Mai-chan, bt I cnt make it for 2day. Somethng impt came up tho I'm sure by now dat u rily dnt mind dat im not der ;)" _She blinked owlishly at her phone. What?

"Is this... some kind of a set-up?" she asked, confusion evident in her voice.

"Good Mai. It seems that you have acquired some more brain cells while I was away." Naru remarked, knowing that it would rile her up. Somehow, making her annoyed and worked up pleased him. Not that he wanted her to hate him, it is very the contrary of what he wants, but he couldn't resist seeing her cute face when it was all scrunched up.

"Hey, whaddya mean by that?! I'm not as stupid as you think I am!" He chuckled lightly as he exactly got the reaction that he wanted. Mai, surprised at hearing him laugh, looked at him in amazement. It was not very often that she heard him laugh. In fact, those instances were so far in between that she could count them with her fingers.

"Will you care to join me for breakfast then?" A small smile was still on his lips. She wondered what had happened that made the normally stoic guy so... carefree. Whatever it was, she was not about to question it. She was just happy that he's here, and he's inviting her to breakfast.

Smiling beautifully at him, she nodded her head. "Yes."

* * *

The morning was spent in witty banter and catching up with each other. Mai found out that he was there in Japan with the other main SPR members to investigate a case, and to finish his dissertation for another of his PhD. She also learned that Lin and Madoka were engaged just recently.

Naru learned that she is now working in the hospital that Ayako's family owns, but still lives on her own even through the insistence of Takigawa and Ayako to move in with them. Another thing that he found out was that the two aforementioned adults are now living together, whilst the young priest, Fr. Brown, being a missionary, was transferred to another prefecture. He still sends letters and post-cards from time to time. As for the young medium, Hara Masako, she was still a celebrity and pretty much busy all the time, but sometimes goes out with them.

All of this he found out through Mai's incessant babbling, which he found amusing so he did not deem to make her stop. He just listened throughout her whole chatter and had given appropriate responses and expressions here and there, either when he was being questioned or when she was expecting a reaction from him.

Mai, to her delight, had found out that Naru was not really that much of a closed book personality. Lin was right when he said that all you had to do was to ask Naru if you want to know something about him. He just not discloses things on his own.

Naru's phone rang then, making Mai stop talking in order to give Naru the chance to talk to whoever called. She saw his eyebrows furrowed and a frown made its way on his face. After several moments of rapid English speaking, to which Mai had only understood bits and pieces of words, Naru sighed and ended the call. Mai knew what that sigh meant even though it had been ages since she heard it. It meant that whatever the caller said, it exasperated the young genius in front of her.

"Do you need to go back to your work now?" she asked. Naru nodded.

A pang of sadness hit her heart as she realized that this may be a onetime chance of meeting him. There might have no repeats of this occasion. If that is the case, then she wanted to let him know the feelings that she kept inside for one full year.

A moment of silence passed between the two. Looking at her lap, Mai started softly. "Do you remember the question you asked me before you left?"

Naru felt himself stiffen at what Mai had said. How could he forget? It is the one thing that ate him inside out the entire time that he was away from her. It was also the ultimate thing that he wanted to know the answer to. And now that that topic had been breached, he had found out that he dreaded to hear the words that will come out from Mai. _"What would I do if she says that it's Gene and not me?" _He mentally shook his head to will the thought away.

"Yes, I remember. Go on."

Mai took a deep breath. _"Here goes nothing, I just pray to God and to the gods around us that this has a positive outcome..." _She looked at him directly in the eye.

"You. Not Gene, but you." Mai then returned her gaze to her lap. "You're the one I'm in love with." She said the last words so softly; Naru had to strain his ears to hear it. When he heard it though, he felt as if he could soar. Finally, his heart had been put to ease. Staying as composed as he could was proving a difficult feat when all he wanted was to shout from sheer joy from what Mai had just said.

The scraping sound of a chair being pushed back reached Mai's ears, and she shut her eyes tight. Tears were welling up and she fought hard not to make them fall. "_I will not let the world see how stupid I am to believe that he would feel the same." _

"Mai."

Hearing his voice so close to her, she whipped her head upwards only to feel something damp descend upon her lips. It only lasted for a couple of seconds, but it was enough to stun her. Her hand unconsciously went to touch her lips. When he returned in her line of vision, she could only look at him in a daze. _"Did he just..."_

"Did you... You... kissed... me..." Naru smiled; the same kind of smile that she used to see from Gene, but only better because it was Naru who was smiling at her. He wiped away a stray tear that had fallen from her eye.

"I was not informed that today is state the obvious day." Mai laughed.

"So does this mean?" she looked at him, hope and joy radiating in her big brown eyes.

"Of course you idiot. I will not kiss someone I don't love."

Mai squealed, causing to get the attention of all the customers and passers-by that were in the area to stop and look at what the commotion was about. Mai did not care. They could watch all they wanted; the important thing was that her narcissistic idiot loves her back.

She literally bounced from her seat to hug Naru. He hugged her back tightly, afraid that if he let go, she might disappear.

"I love you, Mai." He whispered in her ear. He could feel that she was smiling at the same time crying at his chest.

"I love you too, you narcissistic idiot. What took you so damn long?" He chuckled, hearing her swear for the first time. He pulled away for a bit, with just enough space to put a kiss on her lips.

The crowd that had gathered erupted in cheers, and a few whistles and cat calls were heard. They pulled away from each other; Mai smiling shyly up at him while Naru having a smile of pure genuine delight.

"Let's get out of here." He whispered, eyeing the cheering crowd around them. Mai nodded.

"Your work?"

"They'll survive without me."

"Will you survive without me?"

"That will be like living with no air."

"It is the same for me too."

OWARI.

* * *

Author's Note: Thank you for reading! This story is somewhat based on a true story. I hope that you guys liked reading this long one-shot. It was actually my first time to write such a long story. Also, The Artemis Fowl book series is my favorite that I couldn't resist inserting it here, hehehe... Anyway, make that form feel loved and write on it. Once again, my many thanks!


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